Sentai Speculation: What Made Toshiki Inoue Kill Off Gai Yuki The Way He Did?!

One controversy I may want not to open up for speculation is the way Gai Yuki died. I would have accepted it if he died in the final battle, blew up with Jet Garuda... then maybe you can think that, that was the way Gai Yuki would have wanted to die. But no... I thought his death was too random. Now he did a good deed before his death by recovering a lady's purse... then the thug I assume is a semi-amnesiac Radiguet stabs him after that.


Toshiki Inoue in his cameo in Kamen Rider Faiz...

Now here's what I was thinking about the events that could have led to Inoue writing this unusual way to kill a Tokusatsu hero. Now here's my speculations behind why Toshiki Inoue killed Gai Yuki in a manner that was not easy for me to accept. Now I don't really care much if he wanted Ryu and Kaori to end together, there were HINTS in the show. Now he could have just left it up with breaking Gai Yuki and Kaori up but no... we really just had to get Gai Yuki killed in a way that's a huge bummer.

Now I want to take a look back at Radiguet's curse. So Radiguet uttered the words that he will continue to haunt them, even in the afterlife. Now he cursed the Jetmen didn't he? Knowing that Radiguet is a malevolent entity, he would curse them.

Now I was thinking of this interesting theory by Chris X taken fromherewhich is a very detailed criticism of the character of Radiguet:

Now a lot of you probably would've thought of the theory about Radiguet surviving, becoming human again and now a mugger. While it's a plausible story, if we take the manga in continuity, I'd say that the mugger IS just a normal, nameless mugger, but Radiguet's spirit lived on and deciding to spit on the Jetman, never letting them having a happy ending, he possessed the thug and had him stab Gai. The thug was played by the suit actor of Black Condor, thus it can't be a reincarnated Radiguet. My other theory is when Gai looked away, Radiguet possessed the thug, thus giving him an urge to stab him, and he did. Once the deed is done, Radiguet's spirit left the thug, therefore, the thug felt a complete remorse about him stabbing Gai, and fled with a terrified look on his face rather than a confident "Take That!" look.

So I was thinking, remember Radiguet CURSED the Jetmen. Now the theory above is really, REALLY credible. Now the Manga can be confirmed to be an alternate ending to Jetman since the Jetman Encyclopedia had a different outcome... Ryu and Kaori had a son named Gai Tendo not a daughter named Aya Tendo. Aya Tendo was Manga-only, Gai Tendo was the son of Ryu and Kaori in the TV special. Again, the Jetman Encylopedia cannot dismiss the fact that Radiguet could have possessed the thug. Then again, at least be comforted with the fact that Radiguet is gone for good. Then again, it didn't have to end that way.

Another of my theory is this... as Shogo says, Inoue just likes to write weird finales. Now I was thinking while Kiva was a mess but at least nobody got killed in random at the end of the battle, just some stupid Neo-Fangires entering for the sake of laughs. Faiz's finale is deplorable but looks more decent than Ryuki's reset button finale. Hibiki was meh. Now I was thinking what was in Inoue's head when he decided to kill off Gai Yuki in such a way.

Now Super Sentai addresses you're not gifted with superhero immortality. I mean, most of them face life threatening situations out of suit. For example, when Takeru was suitless in fighting Baraba, he was basically at the verge of death. He was probably trying to make a Public Service Announcement or maybe not. My theory is that Inoue loves to shock us and here's what I thought was really the way he wanted to shock us:


Now this was where the Jetmen LOOKED like idiots. For one, if Gai Yuki were stabbed and now he's just him... I don't think he can really survive that long and would have been realistically, dropped dead before he can make it to the wedding. Shogo wrote these words in his blog about Jetman's finale which I will emphasize his OPINION:

The killing of Gai Yuuki. It's such an absurd and pointless turn of events that this one episode ruins the entire series for some fans. Me? I can't stand it, and the only way I could watch the episode was by pretending like Gai was just taking a lil' nap and the others weren't so stupid that they didn't realize something was wrong with him and got him some help. But Gai's appearance in Gokaiger got me to soften up on the finale a bit. A BIT. My complaint was always how stupid it made the characters look. It's supposed to be some great, Klingon warrior-worthy gesture that Gai bypasses the hospital to make his friends' wedding, but...isn't it worse to mar their wedding day by being reminded that it was the day their friend and teammate died? Doesn't it make Ryu and the others look stupid that they couldn't tell something was wrong with Gai, and falling for his lame-o hangover excuse? But there was at least something sweet in the Gokaiger episode in that Gai didn't want the Gokaiger pestering his teammates for their lame-o Grand Power because he didn't want to pick at all of those wounds. So, it's an extension of the Jetman finale and addresses something that bothered me, so...it was something.

There are some who always defended the finale though. It showed "reality," that even though the Jetman defeated the supervillains, one of them was taken down by an ordinary thug, and that it's ironic that Gai was killed by someone who, if not for Jetman, he could have ended up as. Some think it's all a part of the curse Radeige placed on them upon his death. Yeah, that could have been done in a different, better way, a way that didn't make our heroes look like dummies. No, it was all just Inoue looking for a way to "shock" viewers.

I agree with Shogo on how he died. In fact, there are MANY good ways to write a "realistic death". Now I do still think it's a bummer the way that Naoto Takizawa died SHOT by a Zenitto to the point, I even wrote this entry. But was it random? No. I know I really hated how Naoto died but let's name a few positives about Naoto's death. When he was dying, bleeding... and remember he was HIT at a vital organ and the death was bloody. Now we see Tatsuya was NOT looking like an idiot, he was there tending to Naoto's death. Naoto's death was plot-driven, not just random. Ryuya's aim to be able to continue living and going on with life involved somebody dying as Time Fire in his place. Which Naoto was selected as Time Fire SO Ryuya in the year 3001 can continue to live. Now doesn't this bummer death sound more plot relevant?! Yes I'm shocked to see it but, at least it was very plot-driven. Again, Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi have lots of point in common.

Now for the possibilities behind Gai Yuki's death. Now Joe the Condor supposedly died in the first season, in fact he was supposed to be replaced but his popularity had him revived as a cyborg in Gatchaman II. I guess it's already overly predictable that heroes usually die in battle. So I guess Toshiki Inoue wanted to try an entirely different approach with killing Gai Yuki. And I was thinking that different approach of showing the vulnerability of superheroes wasn't really well-written at all. =P

After all, I can't help but look like this whenever you think that Gai Yuki's death was written in such a way... but as the ToQGers say, you need to use your imagination power to analyze stuff. Maybe, just maybe we will figure out what really happened behind the scenes. Now for some words from Fantasy Leader taken from here, note he's already closed Valsag Fantasy to close this entry with his OPINION that is:

But at least he died with honor. One thing that I thought was interesting was that it showed that the Jetman (or any Sentai team) was not invincible, and that even normal thugs could kill them. So even though they survived the war against the Vyram, it does not mean that they are gifted with "Main Character Immortality." This definitely showed more realism in a Sentai show which was not present in other seasons. It was a very tragic ending. I'm not saying it was the most well-written ending ever (and I think Gokaiger 28 helped fix that). But I kinda liked that this was where Gai's development was going.